The Seamless Garment: A Poison Pill to Kill Off the Pro-Life Movement

If you’ve ever engaged in hardcore negotiation, you know about something called a “poison pill.” That is something which you ask for, and pretend to desperately want, which is designed to throw your opponent off, make him back off on his other demands — to do whatever he needs to in order to avoid having to swallow that poison pill. So his attention is distracted, and he gives way on different issues, giving you what you actually wanted in the first place. You may actually be relieved that he didn’t accept the “poison pill,” since you didn’t want it either.

Poison pills are a risky strategy, though, if you don’t really know your opponent. What if he takes it — and then you’re stuck with it? Democrat opponents of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 tried to kill that bill by adding “sex” along with “race,” confident that even the Republicans leading the fight for the Act would see how absurd it was to pay women and men the same. Certainly, the fans of Jim Crow were not some closet feminists; they thought this amendment would kill the bill. But Republicans didn’t mind that provision either, and so instead of a narrow bill banning racist discrimination, the U.S. ended up with a broader bill that also encompassed women.

When Catholic liberal Democrats embraced the “Seamless Garment” spun by the leftist Cardinal Joseph Bernadin in 1982, and when they pushed it on passionately pro-life Catholics, they surely knew what they were doing. That theological project lumped together the intentional killing of more than a million unborn babies a year with every other phenomenon that might conceivably shorten some humans’ lives, from poor child nutrition to smog, from NATO missiles to Reagan’s aid to the anti-Communist contras. In essence, they said, if you aren’t a pacifist who favors absolutely unlimited welfare programs, open borders, and police using only rubber bullets, you cannot oppose abortion.

What the Seamless Garment Cloaks

Those who take this stance can pretend that they really oppose abortion, but are too intellectually rigorous to become “single issue” voters. In fact what they are doing is saddling the pro-life movement with a deadly poison pill: Either embrace our outrageous, implausible, and likely suicidal utopianism, or let us go on murdering a million children per year.

And in a sense the strategy worked. Almost no sincere pro-lifers were willing to adopt all the crackpot items on this Christmas wishlist, but its very existence gives crucial political cover to the likes of Joe Biden, Tim Kaine and Nancy Pelosi. The so-called “consistent” pro-life position, they suggest, is such a rigorous and demanding, unworldly agenda, that you can’t blame them for falling short on one or two items of the full glory of God. As Democrats, they can’t surrender abortion, but hey, look how much better they are than Republicans at federal grants for transgender illegal aliens!

This is the game that some members of Democrats for Life are playing this year. They started with a very bad hand, given that their party’s 2016 platform could not be more extreme on abortion. As The Streamnoted last week:

The Democrat party is absolutely committed to keeping abortion legal for any reason, including sex selection, for all nine months of pregnancy. You as a taxpayer will have to pay for it, and you had better not try to protest outside abortion clinics. You will even pay to subsidize Planned Parenthood’s trafficking in tiny human organs. If you want to run a business, your insurance will have to pay for the abortion pill. Not only will you have to pay for abortions right here at home, you will also have to pay for promoting it around the world, including the use of U.S. foreign aid to pressure other sovereign countries such as El Salvador or Poland to repeal their democratically enacted pro-life laws.

‘Whole Life’ Co-Opted

To distract us from the fact that the party to which they belong has zero respect for innocent unborn life, Democrats such as Catholic U. grad student Robert Christian, and putatively pro-life blogger Mark Shea, are dusting off the Seamless Garment with a twist. They are using language stolen from genuine pro-lifers, such as Jason Jones.

Now instead of the Seamless Garment, they are talking about a “Whole Life” movement, one which dilutes our concern for ending a million murders a year, by dissolving it in a swimming pool full of other social concerns — some of which are legitimate, such as human rights and poverty. But they slip in the poison pill: The only way you can show that you care about medical treatment for the needy, or full respect for women, or lifting up the poor, is by voting for massive federal programs that throw taxpayer money at these problems and grow the power of the secular, anti-Christian state. If you’re not willing to do that, then you don’t really care, and you’re not really pro-life.

Indeed, they are so much more pro-life than the rest of us that it inoculates them from the fact that their party’s presidential candidate is the most pro-abortion in history. See how that works? It’s the first trick you learn in magician school: misdirection and sleight of hand. That trickery reached its apogee when the Democrats for Life sponsored a “Whole Life” reception at the same Democratic National Convention that approved its murderous platform.

The Real Whole Life

In fact, the real Whole Life movement dates back to 2007, and Jason Jones founded it for exactly the opposite reason. From its founding in 1973, the pro-life movement has treated abortion as the ugly fruit of the Sexual Revolution, with its leaders noting correctly that abortion is used primarily as back-up birth control. That is true as far as it goes, but it’s not the only way to look at the question. As someone won over to the pro-life cause when his daughter was aborted against his will, Jones always saw abortion as a human rights issue — a gross and cruel practice that pits mothers against their own children, often wrecking the lives of the former as it snuffs out those of the latter.

As a teenager himself at the time, he knew that other young people would respond to the human rights angle of abortion more readily than the dour (though truthful) approach which saw abortion primarily as the outcome of casual, irresponsible sex. His human rights interests broadened, and when he founded Whole Life he included outreaches to persecuted Africans, Middle Eastern Christians and the forgotten homeless of America’s inner cities.

He didn’t blur all those questions together and demand that anyone who opposes abortion travel with him to Sudan or Iraq; but he saw that they were all united by one concern, for the innocent human being threatened by violence. He is also consistent in his approach, opposing all violence against the innocent, which is why he has lobbied alongside the Innocence Project in defense of the wrongly convicted on death row.

It’s so encouraging the way Jones’ presentation of the life issue convinces and energizes college students across the country, from the University of Hawaii to Yale. Young people are naturally idealistic, and they want to be on the humane side of issues. He helps them to see that they ought to be pro-life, they should want to be pro-life, because it’s the side of hope for the future that embraces the next generation, and protects them from violence.

I started working with I Am Whole Life, Jason Jones’ non-profit, four years ago because I too was inspired by the integrity of its mission. It is the very opposite of the Seamless Garment. It doesn’t wrap the pro-life issue in the poison pill of utopian socialism or reckless pacifism, but instead fights every threat to innocent life, while respecting Catholic social teaching and classical Christian statecraft, which warn against giving undue power to Caesar, or trampling the rights of citizens in pursuit of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

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If you are not willing to push a Personhood Amendment that would require support of Motherhood, first by Father’s and then by General society even if it would increase taxes and destroy the free market, then do not claim to be pro-life.
The real poison pill revealed by a consistent ethic of life is an unwillingness on both the left and the right to sacrifice sacred cows to the cause of a universal right to life, from conception until natural death. I am still a single issue voter, but I am no longer fooled by Democrats who sacrifice life to sexual liberty or Republicans and Libertarians who sacrifice life to fiscal liberty.
If your liberty requires the death of another human being, even one you have decided is guilty, then you are not pro-life.

Given that I do not object to a killing necessary to freeing a living, breathing human being from slavery, I gather that you would assert that I am not pro-life as you define it. You are free to believe and choose that for yourself, but I will not allow you to choose that for me or anyone else that isn’t you.

The trade deal I’m proposing is to provide for all the material needs of the family, in return for not killing children. Rejecting the deal- for either side- is a compromise of principles.

Mr. G.

I’m all for helping families, but your proposal doesn’t address the matter of a woman who does not wish to be pregnant / gestate a fetus. The very nature of capitalism is that the customer is free to accept or reject the transaction offered.

For that, don’t have sex. It’s pretty damn simple, and even a millenial can figure it out.

I’m against capitalism.

Mr. G.

“Don’t have sex”? Surely you jest. That’s even sillier than Nancy Reagan’s “just say no”. Never, ever going to happen. When you’ve convinced all the married couples that don’t want kids now or don’t want any more kids to go along with your idea, you’ll only have covered half of the women who seek abortions.

Mr. G.

You go to the convent and be celibate. I’ll have sex because I really enjoy it – “necessary” or not. Rejecting your offer doesn’t necessarily mean rejecting the principle of helping families. It simply means that your offer is insufficient for what you ask in return.

Phil Steinacker

You are a slave.

Mr. G.

Au contraire – I am free.

Prettylady!

Well said. I am looking for someone to give me a reason how a Catholic can vote democrat and still be in communion with the church.

Reader Yesterday

In 2004, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote: “N.B. A Catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for Holy Communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a candidate precisely because of the candidate’s permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia. When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favour of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered remote material cooperation, which can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons.]”
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So, for example, in this Presidential race, your conscience might prompt you to vote for Hillary Clinton, if you lived in a swing state, if you decided that Donald Trump would be worse and likely to cause more harm. Or in a race between a prolife Democrat (they exist!) and a pro-torture Republican, you would do better to vote for the Democrat. Hope this helps!

Prettylady!

What issue trumps abortion for you, Catholic?

Reader Yesterday

No issue “trumps” abortion for me, fellow Catholic, although I don’t consider myself a single issue voter either. However, in this coming general election, it is obvious that Donald Trump is not prolife. It is also obvious that in forty years, Republicans have had no intention of changing anything regarding abortion at the federal level. So a Catholic can look at other issues and vote accordingly. Abortion rates have continued to decline under President Obama, so something must be working! I think the constant work of prolife people at the ground level, with first of all the incalculable aid of prayer, then ministry, babysitting, feeding, clothing, education and job training for women in crisis pregnancies have helped move the culture life-wards, along with social issues such as continuing health care and income equality, and scientific advancements in ultrasound tech and prenatal care and neonatal care.

Prettylady!

Yes, defending the legal killing of children, prevents the legal killing of children.

The logic of a dem

Reader Yesterday

You mistake me if you think I am in any way defending the legal killing of children. I hold and believe everything Holy Mother Church holds, believes and teaches. I was mistaken that you were asking your original question in good faith. Also, I am not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. I am a Catholic.

Prettylady!

Really, a Catholic? Income inequality? Abortions go down during democratic presidencies? You sound like a marxist to me.

Let me guess, are there too many guns out there too, Vladimir?

Reader Yesterday

Really a Catholic, fellow Catholic!
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A living wage is part of Catholic social teaching. You might want to read the papal encyclical “Rerum Novarum” sometime to get the basics. It is not only a matter of justice to pay men and women equally for the same jobs, it can be a deterrent to abortion if it removes one reason (can’t afford a baby) for a woman to seek an abortion.
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And abortion rates have been declining. This is a matter of public record. Marxist regimes were notorious for increased abortion rates. This is also a matter of historical record.
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I think gun statistics are a little off topic for a conversation on the seamless garment. If it makes you happy to treat me with further contempt and name calling, try the death penalty instead. God bless you!

Prettylady!

Tell me this, what is a living wage, pal? $15 an hour? $25? Hey, why not $10,000 dollars an hour! Lets all be rich! What a flying moron you are! Intentions over results.

There is no such thing as a living wage, lefty. It doesn’t exist. Who decides it? You, Poindexter? Some econ prof? Some state bureaucrat? Talk about the making of corruption, can you imagine if there was someone setting prices? Could they be bought? No you didnt think about that, you just love the sound of the term “living wage” How the devil has tricked you!

Its as if the soviet union never existed. That Venezuela never existed. You are an egoist. You feel soooo superiour throwing out your nonsense made up terms like “living wage” . What a hack. What a shallow egoist you are.

You know, just because marxism has infiltrated the earthen vessels doesn’t mean you have to buy it, genius.

Now, go vote for the party of abortion, faux marriage, and intentions and no results, and pat yourself on the back for being so “compassionate” and “caring” when I know you care for nothing but your own sense of moral superiority.

BIGOT

Reader Yesterday

A living wage was, as I mentioned before, discussed by Pope Leo XIII in his encyclical “Rerum Novarum” in 1891. It is part of Catholic social teaching, and of course, no one would call Pope Leo XIII a Marxist. Everything the pope discusses is linked to Catholic Tradition, so I strongly urge you to read it.
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I really don’t understand why you continue to misread what I write and your constant anger. I uphold the Church and Her teachings. Salvation lies within the Catholic Church, not the Republican Party, you know.

Prettylady!

We are not talking salvation, friend, we are talking about lies. And the living wage is a lie.

What is a this holy grail of a living wage? 15$? Why not 15.50$? WHy not $100? WHy not? Prove to me what a living wage is.

How is this living wage calculated?

And what about outcomes? You are just interested in how good it sounds and how super duper it makes you feel. Soooo altruistic and sophisticated:

“Ah! Living wage! Oh, its sounds so smooth coming off my lips!. And, hey! Look! It sounds like “living water!” OMG!!!! clap clap clap!! Jesus said something about living water, right! OMG this is totally going into my slogan library!.”

And wHat are the outcome of a “living wage”?

More unemployed black youths down on the democratic party urban plantations. Who is going to hire some dumb kid with his pants around his knees like a thug, stinking of pot for $15 an hour? No one, Catholic! So it’s back to the corner for Deshawn.

What are the outcomes of a “living wage”

Walmart, promising to bring hundreds of jobs into DC suffering black neighbor hoods, pulls out. No wages at all for Deshawn or Lewanda, Catholic.

Nope. The democratic rabble who HATE Walmart, complained about your precious living wage. So Walmart never came to DC.

I”m sorry to burst your feel good sloganeering, but this is in the realm of marxism and Satan.

Here is the truth. Capitalism, is the agreement between two people. You want this thing I have, here is what I’m willing to take to part with it. Whether it be my labor or a good. Capatililsm creates wealth.

And there are always thugs and flim flam men to come and trick people out of their wealth, or steal it from them, or simply murder them and take it. ANd they do it all with the sounds of altruism and compassion.

Catholic, I give you, the Democratic party. The political machine of the KKK, the party of segregation and the party of Slavery. They are the party of satan.

(vote republican)

Reader Yesterday

“…there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. ”
-Pope Leo XIII, “Rerum Novarum” 45
So you think this pope is a Marxist and a Satanist? Your words are so ugly and twisted they have become incomprehensible. Your faith appears to be not in the Catholic Church but in the Republican Party and its lust for unfettered capitalism in which the rich get richer and the poor suffer because it’s what they deserve, after all, according to, it seems, people like you. You either know nothing about the Democratic Party or any other political party in this country or you delight in lying. The KKK has endorsed Donald Trump and he has repeatedly retweeted from white supremacists. The Republicans, especially in this election but beginning much earlier (google “southern strategy”) have become the party of the racist and white elitist. I wonder if that’s a bug or a feature for you. God help you.

Prettylady!

Ah, now we get the real Reader.

RIght the “big switch” why don’t you tell me 5 Racist hate filled Democtat bigots who “switched” to the Republicans.

I’ll start you off, Strom Thurman.

name 4 more.

THe truth is you would put this fantasy of Equal pay, whatever that means, and “fair” whatever that means, ahead of human lives.

Abortions go down during democratic rule, what a crock.

THe Dems are the party of the urban plantations. Wake up.

And you never told me one thing about your precious living wage. DId you? No arguments from you. Its just racist this and white supremecy that.

You are a marxist pal.

Reader Yesterday

Yeah, I did tell you a thing or two about the living wage “…that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner.” and I suggested you read the papal encyclical “Rerum Novarum” to get a better idea of Catholic social teaching. A living wage isn’t a magic number, it’s drawn from what a worker needs to meet his basic needs plus a bit to save, generally speaking. It isn’t something that must be mandated by a government, but may in the face of massive injustice to workers.
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I really don’t think you’ve understood anything I’ve written. I’m not a Democrat, nor am I a Republican. The only Democrats I’ve ever voted for have been prolife. I’m not a Marxist. I’m not sure you even know the meaning of the word. In fact, you have proven yourself ignorant of Catholic teaching, racist, a liar, and amazingly fact resistant. (Yes, Donald Trump is endorsed by the KKK and other racists. Yes, the abortion rate has decreased in the past eight years. You can look up these facts for yourself, you know.)
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As a Catholic, I believe in protecting life from conception to natural death. I oppose abortion in every way possible and promote the safety and well being of all God’s children at every stage of life. I believe in spreading the Gospel and in seeing the face of Christ in everyone. I am not your enemy. I hope you will pray for me, as I am praying for you.

Prettylady!

Did you call me a racist? You vote for the party that keeps blacks on urban plantation and Im the racist?

You see, thats a marxist tactic. Blame the other party for the problem your party created.

If a fetus could talk, which party do you think she would ask you to vote for? The party that defends abortion? Or the party that wants to end it?

Reader Yesterday

I think it’s fair to characterize as racist someone who makes racist comments:

“More unemployed black youths down on the democratic party urban plantations. Who is going to hire some dumb kid with his pants around his knees like a thug, stinking of pot for $15 an hour? No one, Catholic! So it’s back to the corner for Deshawn.”

“How about baltimore, which is one big democratic plantation?”

“Democrats keep blacks like pets.”
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It’s also fair to characterize you as a liar, since you keep repeating the lies that the Democratic Party is racist (news flash, it’s not 1879 any more), and that I’m a Marxist (I’m not). I don’t defend the evil supported by the Democratic Party, but I don’t defend the Republican Party, either.
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When you asked which party an unborn child would ask me to vote for you gave me two choices: “the party that defends abortion” and “the party that wants to end it.” Which party wants to end abortion? The Republican Party? Give me a break! They’ve had forty years and have done nothing. “Put not your trust in princes!”

Prettylady!

You are using marxist tactics again! Calling me a racist. (isnt’ it interesting that it’s now you who are calling me names)

This is an alisnky/ marxist tactic. Call someone a racist.

Now you want me to spend my time defending myself.

Well, that juice just aint worth the squeeze.

And I notice, you never addressed my baltimore statement. Talk about voting for the impotent party.

Republicans have been trying to end abortion for 40 years.

Look what you dems just did in Texas.

A nail salon has more health inspections than a democratic party planned parenthood abortion mill.

You are rationalizing your feckless, impotent, Marxist leanings.

All under your self righteous “Catholic” bannar.

What have you done for the unborn? What have you done to stop the greatest holocaust in the history of the world?

Reader Yesterday

Still not a Democrat, no matter how often you call me one!
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You call me names with no proof; I described what you are by using what you actually said. That’s not “Marxist/Alinskyite” it’s called “paying attention.”
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“Republicans have been trying to end abortion for 40 years.” Well they’re either incompetent or liars then, aren’t they? Are you even aware that the Supreme Court that gave us the travesty of Roe v. Wade was made up of a majority of Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices? That a Supreme Court made up of a majority of Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices has upheld every challenge to Roe, and as now given us same-sex marriage? And you think these people actually care about the unborn?

Prettylady!

We will support policies to eliminate acid rain pollution from power plant emissions

That was in the Dem platform in 1980! Remember acid rain?!? Whatever happened to acid rain? More lefty flim flam.

Reader Yesterday

Whatever happened to acid rain? Are you kidding me?
Due to the passage of regulations like the Clean Air Interstate Rule and the Acid Rain Program, emissions fell dramatically and are no longer a problem in this country. It wasn’t “flim-flam” it was science working with government and business to solve a real problem.
Your hatred of “all things Dem” has blinded you.

Prettylady!

Baltimore. Who runs baltimore? Democrats. Every major inner city? Democrats.

Climate change is an urgent threat and a defining challenge of our time. Fifteen of the 16 hottest
years on record have occurred this century.

And from the 2016 dem platform.

Same scam. Different name.

Reader Yesterday

I’m thinking maybe you shouldn’t try to do science.
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But if you’d like to think with the Church on this, may I recommend reading the encyclical, “Laudato Si” written by Pope Francis?

Prettylady!

You hit all the lefty buzzwords:

Racist: Im a racist /Trumps a racist.(notice I don’t call you names anymore) Nothing real, just words. Accusing is a tactic of cultural marxist (and the devil).

Liar: If it doesn’t fit the Marxist narrative, well, it a lie. No argument, again just name calling.

Science: Marxism is built on “evolution” It is phony type of economics that claim to use indisputable science as a little god. There is no science to climate change, as there wasn’t to acid rain, or the population boom, or ddt. Its all emotion. Its all a scam!

Make up a world-ending problem and be the solution to the problem, oh, we just need a few billion. Just like actually putting a dollar amount on CO2. Brilliant, global grift.

I use to be ego centric democrat. It was the lies of 2nd wave feminists that changed me (look up the suffragettes and name any democrats among their ranks, you wont find any).

You still havn’t told me why Baltimore is still as racist as ever despite 50 years of Democrat rule. Brilliant! Keep proposing “programs” and “policy” that do nothing. Did you hear the DOJ and the mayor make all the same promises on Wednesday? And when the problems persist BECAUSE of the Democrats, call the republicans racist, call capitalism mean, and call religion bigoted., and propose more policies! Its a grift!

Thats the left.

I find it interesting how you purport to care about the ineffectiveness of republicans to end abortion, but have nothing to say about the democrats ineffectiveness in ending racism, poverty, war all the things that they claim to be experts on.

If it’s racist republicans who thwart the angels fighting the forces of evil in ending racism and poverty, why do you vote for Democrats? If abortion was so important to you as you claim, why not use the same logic and vote republican?

Leftists and logic are strangers.

Prettylady!

Guaranteeing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights
Democrats applaud last year’s decision by the Supreme Court that recognized that LGBT
people—like other Americans—have the right to marry the person they love. But there is still
much work to be done. LGBT kids continue to be bullied at school, restaurants can refuse to
serve transgender people, and same-sex couples are at risk of being evicted from their homes.
That is unacceptable and must change. Democrats will fight for the continued development of
sex discrimination law to cover LGBT people. We will also fight for comprehensive federal nondiscrimination
protections for all LGBT Americans, to guarantee equal rights in areas such as
housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education, and federal
funding. We will oppose all state efforts to discriminate against LGBT individuals, including
legislation that restricts the right to access public spaces. We support a progressive vision of
religious freedom that respects pluralism and rejects the misuse of religion to discriminate.

And look. pay attention to that last line! THats called totalitarianism!

Reader Yesterday

Again: I oppose Democrats where they are wrong and will continue to uphold true marriage. I will fight for religious freedom. I will support the Democrats where they are right — all Americans should have equal rights in housing, employment, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education and federal funding, shouldn’t they?
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And speaking of religious freedom, I also believe Muslims should have freedom of religion, unlike Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Prettylady!

Mother Teresa:

But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.

And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts.

By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems.

And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion.

Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

Prettylady!

Democrats believe that the current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to
a living wage. No one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty. We believe
that Americans should earn at least $15 an hour

2016 dem platform.

You know, if you are not a dem in name, you sure sound like one. And look! There’s the answer to that living wage number I was asking for!

WHo came up with it? WHo cares!

Reader Yesterday

Again, there is no “magic” living wage number. A number proposed by a Democratic group is one number, others do the math a little differently.
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Since Catholic teaching supports a living wage, why do you oppose it? Do you really think that people who work full time *should* have to raise a family in poverty?
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I support Democrats where they are right, and Republicans where they are right. I oppose Democrats where they are wrong, and Republicans where they are wrong.

Prettylady!

and now, ladies and gentlemen, abortion!

We will support sexual and reproductive health and rights around the globe. In addition to
expanding the availability of affordable family planning information and contraceptive supplies,
we believe that safe abortion must be part of comprehensive maternal and women’s health care
and included as part of America’s global health programming. Therefore, we support the repeal
of harmful restrictions that obstruct women’s access to health care information and services,
including the “global gag rule” and the Helms Amendment that bars American assistance to
provide safe, legal abortion throughout the developing world.

These bigots want to push abortion, contraception, and gay values ON THE WORLD.

THe democratic party is the party of the devil.

Safe abortion? Not safe for the child. How can you be for this?

Reader Yesterday

I’m not for abortion. I oppose it. But you know that.
All I’ve said is that a Catholic in good standing *may* vote for a Democrat *in spite* of their support for grave evil *for proportionate reasons*. Which is what Cardinal Ratzinger said. I agree with the Church. Why don’t you?

Prettylady!

Here’s the Helms amendment that dems want to end:

“No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.”

Dems want to forse catholic doctors to perform aboritons.

The democrats, by nature, becuase centralized iron fisted government is the solution to everything, is totalitarian.

Reader Yesterday

I remember when Bill Clinton was elected (horrible man) and we were told that the Democrats would end the Helms amendment, because Bill was the most pro-abortion president ever. Didn’t happen.
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And then after eight years of Barak Obama, the most pro-abortion president ever who would surely end the Helms amendment. Nothing.
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So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t play that game any more.

Prettylady!

“The abortion debate is conducted on dishonest terms, with one side working mightily to confine the debate to cases of rape, incest, and desperate women facing desperate circumstances. But there’s another side of abortion — mass-scale killings for the sake of simple ambition to advance personal careers. In other words, here’s one woman’s ‘choice’ — to hire a doctor to kill her own baby for the sake of volleyball.”
Here’s to Kerri Walsh Jennings for showing the world that motherhood and professional success are not even close to being mutually exclusive.

Reader Yesterday

Good for her!

Prettylady!

Did you know who said democrats keep blacks like pets? I was quoting someone.

Ben Carson.

Marxists can’t stand a defector. Any black who dares speak out against the racist democrats is torn up.

Did you hear what the homosexual activist George Takei (probably a big hero of yours) said about Clarence Thomas? He called him a Clown in Blackface.

Tolerance indeed. The Unholy Left is tolerant only if you agree with them.

I ask you about baltimore and you call me a racist.

The republicans arn’t perfect, but they aren’t the hate filled, corrupt, marxist gangsters.

Reader Yesterday

Please provide a source for your quote from Ben Carson. I can’t seem to find it. Yet note that the color of one’s skin isn’t magic armor against making stupidly racist statements.
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George Takei? Famous Democratic leader? Oh, yeah; he’s an actor. So he’s also a racist. So also is Donald Trump; the leader of the Republican Party and it’s candidate for president. Let me know when Takei is running for office. I’ll make sure not to vote for him.

Well, happy feast day, sister. The left needs to be stopped. Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt politician ever to run for office. I was there At the Hilton, when Lady MacBeth met with that butcher, Cecil Richards after the Dem inauguration.

And the marxist newspapers are paving the way for her coronation.

Democrats are racists and liars. They are atheistic Marxists satanists. They are leftists.

THey have made blacks into voting slaves, they have killed 60 million children.

Unplug, sister, unplug!

Reader Yesterday

If Democrats are racists and liars, why do racists support Donald Trump? And why does Donald Trump continually tell more lies than Hillary Clinton?
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(Abortion is a grave evil. Republicans won’t stop it.)

Phil Steinacker

Even racists can see that Hilary and company are more evil than they. Hillary’s evil so surpasses their own that – like the rest of us – they can’t stomach voting for her.

Do you imagine that Pretty Lady or I actually see Trump as a terrific candidate? As flawed as he is, I” hold my nose to vote for him to prevent that evil witch from putting her hands on the Supreme Court to finalized the shift in the balance of power.

Prettylady!

It’s also fair to characterize you as a liar, since you keep repeating the lies that the Democratic Party is racist

Do you deny Baltimore? who is in charge of baltimore? Has baltimore EVER had a republican mayor? What about city council?

Democrats all of them. Democrat racism is more subtle now. You have fallen for it big time . Democrats give blacks just enough to keep them alive.But they don’t want them succeeding. No, they need blacks soft. Ripe with hatred and bitterness at white people and “the rich” so they keep voting democrat.

Democratic plantations “masters” aren’t stealing black labor anymore.

They are stealing their votes.

Reader Yesterday

You write as if you think black people have no intelligence. Their plight in Baltimore is due to poor choices, greed and graft, yes: but it goes back to the early 1900’s and the *planned segregation* of that city by whites. Republicans, mostly: the last Republican mayor was in the late 1960’s at the time of civil unrest and riots. The problems now are not a Democrat or Republican problem but a *human* problem. Poor blacks have nothing to give, so no one wants to help them. (yes, more complex than that but hey, there’s your unfettered capitalism at work!)
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And note well: I use the term “unfettered” capitalism. Capitalism in principle is often good and helpful, but unchained from the common good becomes cold inhumane greed.

Phil Steinacker

You ARE a liar. I’ve lived in Baltimore for 67 years and our problems today were created by the stranglehold of the political scene by the Democratic Party’s complete domination of the city council and mayor’s office.

Fact: The last Republican city council member in Baltimore City left office in 1942. That is 73 years of solid Democrat city councils.

Fact: The last Republican mayor of Baltimore City left office in 1967. That is 48 years of unbroken Democrat control of the mayor’s office. Your party has made a solid living blaming others for problems they create. See Barack Obama, who kept blaming Bush well into his second term.

The problems we have are the filthy step-child of the failed policies of Democrats, and this reality s reflected in the same sorts of terrible unsolved problems in cities across the country – at least, those in cities stupid enough to consistently return their Democrat slaveholders to office for decades.

Prettylady!

that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well-behaved wage-earner. ”

And what is that wage now? Does it include a cell phone? What about cable?

Who is going to decide what is insufficient? Some beurocrat who can be corrupted?

Please.

And what is your alternative to capitalism? What is better than capitalism in raising poverty?

Tell me! Venezuala? Cuba? Estonia?

I warned you about the party of abortion. You will have to answer for what you did for the MOST VULNERABLE

You cant have an insufficient wage if you are dead. Abortion kills.

ANd guess who it kills? the Democrat Margaret Sanger made darn sure it killed blacks.

Thats right. So vote for the party of the KKK and abortion, I warned you,….

Prettylady!

Here is your logic:

the Democratic party of racist killer and slave breeders, all of a sudden saw the light? And decided to become the party of the good guys, and alll the racists ran to the republicans

nice try. We are not as stupid as that. You sound like you got a good lefty education.

Prettylady!

But wait! There more!

Since the southern racist lyndon johnson, a democrat started his great society how have blacks done?

Have they done well?

How about baltimore, which is one big democratic plantation? WHo has run that plantation? The mean white repblicans?

or the slave running dems?

Ding ding. Its democrats that run the big inner city plantations.

Democrats keep blacks like pets.

Prettylady!

you facsist dems lose again you lose !!!!!!!!

Prettylady!

Truuuuuuuuuump!!!!!!! In your face, Fake Catholic! There is also a Brexist coming to the catholic church, you fake phony frauds are going out!

Of course I forgive you for calling me a moron! And to set your mind at ease, also for “disgrace” (which I freely acknowledge that I am), “dem” “Marxist,” “Vladimir,” “Poindexter,” “egoist,” “hack,” “shallow egoist,” and “bigot.” May God grant you peace through the intercession of Our Lady. You were in my prayers at Mass this morning, and will be tomorrow as well.

Prettylady!

You rationalize your vote for a pair that wants to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortion.

You are a disgrace.

Reader Yesterday

Dear fellow Catholic, you asked for a reason how a Catholic can vote Democrat and still be in communion with the Church. I gave you the reason Cardinal Ratzinger gave. You asked what issue trumps abortion for me and I answered “none.” For the record, I never told you how I am voting, and also for the record I believe everything the Catholic Church holds, teaches and believes.
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I am a disgrace. Thank you for pointing that out to me and may God bless and keep you.

Phil Steinacker

And you have fallen out of Communion with the Church and continue to lie to yourself and others about it.

Phil Steinacker

Trump – terribly flawed as he is – is more pro-life than Clinton could ever dream of being on her best day. She not only has provided full-throated support for it for decades, she intend to expand the “right” to abort upon demand to anyone and at taxpayer cost, unless she can force employers – with or without a Catholic Christian conscience formed with the mind of the Church – to do her dirty work for her.

I am not a single issue voter per se, but the Church exacts clear requirements upon faithful Catholics to NEVER support and to do everything possible to oppose and defeat the walking incarnation of evil that is Hillary.

” Or in a race between a prolife Democrat (they exist!) and a pro-torture Republican, you would do better to vote for the Democrat. Hope this helps!”

On number of victims alone, I am not convinced. Since WWIII began in 1998, there have been maybe 3000 cases of torture by the United States and allies. Since the beginning of 2016, there have been 500,000 abortions. I think it’s pretty damn clear which is the greater problem.

I don’t even buy that logic however, which is why I’m working to get American Solidarity Party on the ballot.

Reader Yesterday

Theodore Seeber, I have liked what I’ve seen of the American Solidarity Party. I haven’t voted for a major party candidate, at least for president, for many years. While I agree with you that abortion, in terms of numbers, is a far greater problem; regarding solution, it isn’t working for Catholics to keep voting for Republicans. (As I also think you agree.) I have however seen local elections for, say, congress in which the only two choices were an R and a D. We had a very good prolife D whom I would vote for every time knowing that he’d get at least as much done regarding abortion as a Republican, and do more to protect the poor and marginalized than his R counterpart. But yes, Catholics need a better option than what we have now.

steve5656546346

But, there are almost no pro-life Democrats, and the few that are are marginalized at best.

ROD TOWN

There is nothing “remote” about sin, especially mortal sin. Life trumps all other issues. If you vote for a abortion supporting candidate, you become an accomplice. Your taxes, work, union beliefs, ecosystem beliefs mean nothing. Can you imagine, “Yes Lord, I did not do everything possible to stop the murder of your children but my job and taxes were much more important.” You will have eternity to think on that mistake.

Reader Yesterday

So you disagree with Cardinal Ratzinger, who became Pope Benedict XVI? You go where I would not dare. He makes it clear that to vote for someone who supports grave evil *because* of that evil is sin, but voting for someone who supports grave evil for *other* reasons, and for proportionate reasons it is *not* sin.
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If you vote for a Republican, it could be argued that you are voting for “an abortion supporting candidate,” since abortion has been legal for over forty years now with Republicans in the White House and controlling Congress and the Supreme Court for much of that time. Bunch of liars or completely ineffective, yet still we should support them, on pain of sin? I don’t think so. Fool me once….
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How does voting Republican save a single human life? Prayers and work do more to help a woman in a crisis pregnancy than a vote, yet you seem to imbue that vote with secret mystical power to save or damn me.
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And I haven’t discussed how I plan to vote. Honestly, I can’t stand either of the major parties. They both support grave evil.

steve5656546346

Nonsense. You quote from a very general statement, and act as though is claims that you can vote for Hillary. That is your own spin.

ROD TOWN

Good Morning;

Some fair and excellent points. I am very much a fan of Benedict XVI and I think church historians will look back upon him as one of the best theologians of modern times. However, simply because a pope makes a statement on one or more situations does not mean the statement is excathedra. I believe we agree on the heart of the matter is really the lesser of the two evils in any complex situation but this would also entail the measure of culpability and proximity to the sin i.e., I know where liberalism stands on abortion. Trump is a nightmare, in theory, Hillary is a nightmare in fact.

Choosing Liberalism offends God in multiple ways on all life issues: euthanasia, abortion, freedom of religion, marriage, and increasingly freedom of speech. Whether or not Trump would do or change anything is anyone’s guess but we know the agenda of the left. In other words voting left I vote knowing what is supported (full knowledge), and I know what it has led to and where it will likely lead.

Indeed it is a fact that if all catholic leaders came together along with the churches faithful members we could end abortion through legislation. But many great Republicans have supported defunding efforts – the largest being the Hyde amendment – and have helped decrease the numbers of abortions by tens of thousands. A full ban, no, the prayer and work do continue (with our help). Yet one fact is clear, the left will increase the amount of deaths to innocent lives and continue the attack on all the teachings we catholics hold dear. With this information at hand, we increase our culpability and approximation to sin. I good bishop would ban communion from Biden (who recently facilitated a homosexual marriage), Kaine, Kerry, Polosi, and threaten excommunication for the public support of such a great, horrible sin as abortion. Oh, and this election will determine the make-up of SCOTUS…I certainly do not want my vote to be responsible for helping solidify death.

Todd J. Brown

moreiknowlessiunderstand

Where are the quotes for your 2nd paragraph? Shea wrote the same thing in an attempt to save the souls of Trumpets (using his compassion-less descriptor).

Reader Yesterday

I would encourage readers to look into the seamless garment teachings for themselves as this author does not seem to understand it well and communicates that understanding poorly.

steve5656546346

What is there to understand? It is a confusion and thus a diversion of the very clear issue of killing the unborn: a primordial evil.

Brian Chovanec

Mark Shea is not a Democrat, so referencing him in this manner is misleading and factually incorrect.

Bryan

I think you’re misreading the sentence. The use of commas and the conjunction “and” separate the “Democrat” label from Mr. Shea.
Also, whether he is or is not a Democrat seems to have little bearing on the article itself. Unless you are a personal friend of Mr. Shea, I don’t understand why you would bother. If you disagree with the sum of the article, why wouldn’t you state that?

Mark Shea just got fired. He has an irrational hatred of pro-lifers: and like you he deals in personal attacks and name calling.

Reader Yesterday

Liar.

Phil Steinacker

No, you and Shea are the liars. We’ve all known for years what a pathetic irrational and emotionally abusive liar he is – his blog posts reek of it. You, otoh, were an unknown quantity but you dissemble like Shea so you fit into his world quite well.

And, yes, he did get fired and deservedly so. Typical liberal – accusing others of hate while he’s the hater.

Tom G

I hope for the day when you and Shea reconcile. You are both Catholics, and I dub you both King Théoden.

Mike Crognale

The premise is mistaken. Pro lifers need not allow anyone to define us as the article posits. Those who do are intellectually shallow and weak-willed. Pro-infanticiders will, depending on their state of grace at death, likely burn in hell. I don’t care about what happens to them at final judgement anymore. The pro-infanticider is a selfish self centered cretin. Period.

Kurt 20008

Take a crack at the seamless garment movement if you want but what about the corruption and dishonesty in the Right-to-Life Movement? They list opposition to campaign finance reform and support for gerrymandering as “pro-life” issues. They attack “big government” for certain action but are sure quite when their friends in big money corporations engaged in the same anti-life practices. Their whole philosophy is that a baby is “less dead” when killed by the private sector. And they attack Democratic Administrations for doing things that they never said a peep about when done by the GOP presidencys that had them in their hip pocket.
Ten cent ladies of the evening have more integrity that today’s Right-to-Lifers.

steve5656546346

You seem consumed by hatred of the pro-life movement. I don’t understand that (unless you are pro-abortion).

Kurt 20008

Not everything is as it seems to you.

Phil Steinacker

That’s a shallow non-answer to suggest something exists where it does not. Would that be integrity?

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